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“I need dinner first,” Connie said, when I finally put her down. “Then we can celebrate. I’m so hungry I don’t think I can make it another minute if I don’t eat something.”
“Then let me carry you to the kitchen, my fine lady,” Rascal said as he gathered her up in his big, strong arms.
“I could get used to this,” she told him, giggling.
Of course, my heart melted every time I heard that giggle.
“Be my guest,” he said. “And this is only our first night.”
She slipped her arms around his neck. “Oh, what tales we’ll weave and what songs we’ll write.”
“Don’t tempt me, woman, or we’ll end up in the bedroom instead of the kitchen.”
“Kitchen first… then the bedroom. Wait! You were in pain this morning. How are you doing this?” she asked.
“I don’t know, but I think that last batch of pills kicked in. Besides, you can’t weigh more than a couple of feathers.”
“We’ll eat fast,” I said, chuckling, wanting to get her in bed as quickly as possible.
“Is that a promise?” she asked, turning to me with a naughty little smile on her sweet face.
“You have my word,” I told her.
And suddenly, we were hurrying through the house, well, maybe not Rascal. He was still sore, no matter what he’d said, but at least he was laughing along with the rest of us. And laughing was always a good idea. Especially tonight, when sex was only a few minutes away.
Connie 15
Sex didn’t happen that first night, especially after I fell asleep at the table. I didn’t remember what happened after that, but I awoke in my bed the next morning, still wearing all my clothes.
So much for sex on our first night, but at least we had a track of our first song. That made up for the lack of sex… almost.
After that first night, and our success with putting our first original song together, we focused on learning enough cover songs for three sets. Of course, we kept polishing and tweaking our original tune until it was perfection, but learning those cover songs was just as important, if not more so.
When we learned that Bobby knew most of those songs and could play guitar like a rock star, we immediately tried to convince him to join us on stage.
“I’ve got a lot of work to do on this ranch. Don’t know if I can afford to take that many hours away in a day for practice,” he balked.
“Can Jared take over some of your responsibilities?” Luke asked. “From what you’re saying, you already know most of these songs from playing them with Dusty.”
“That was different. I didn’t have to be on a stage. I’ve never performed before. I might freeze and forget everything,” Bobby countered.
“The man I saw stir up that crowd at Dusty’s funeral didn’t have a trace of stage freight. That man was a true performer. He had that group mesmerized,” I said, reminding him of how amazing he was at the funeral.
“We need you, Bobby, and I have a feeling deep down in your soul, you’ve always wanted to be up on a stage. Now’s your chance, and besides, Dusty would’ve loved this,” Rascal said.
“I’m too old for this kind of stuff,” he said, trying his best to put up a fight, but I could tell he was already giving up. I already knew some of Bobby’s tells. Like how he couldn’t hide the smile in his eyes when he liked what we were doing or how we sounded. Or how he’d tip his hat, then settle it back on his head when he was frustrated or the best one was how he’d tilt his head to the right side when he thought bullshit was coming his way.
“You’re never too old to perform country. It’s the kind of music that only gets better with time, and the performers mellow right along with it,” Josh said, speaking the absolute truth, as always. “Look at Dusty. He never stopped singing and performing for his friends.”
“Fine, use the Dusty card to pull on my emotions,” he said, gazing down at the blond wooden floor for a moment. “I know I’m going to regret this, and everything inside me is telling me to walk in the opposite direction, but fine. I’ve been missing… well… let’s see what songs you’ve got, and I’ll tell you if I know them. If not, maybe we can change ‘em up, so I won’t have to spend all my time with you lazy-ass city boys, trying to teach you what real country music should sound like. Any of you know how to play that pedal steel guitar? Some of the songs you should be playing at Dirty Coyote need that sound.”
“No, but maybe I could learn,” Josh offered.
Bobby smirked and tilted his head. “You might have a fancy degree, but that instrument takes someone who’s been making music with it for a lot of years.”
“And where are we supposed to find that person?” Luke asked.
“Just so happens that person works right on this ranch and would probably feel honored if you made the offer,” Bobby said.
